What are foundation conditions like in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma?

Reviewed by Preston · Updated 2026-11-11

In short: About 31% of Broken Arrow is mapped in soils rated high shrink-swell and another 35% moderate ¹. Dennis clay covers nearly a third of the city, and about 45% of the land drains poorly ¹, so winter-spring heave and late-summer drop at slab edges are the patterns to expect. Higher, loamy terrace soils in parts of the city move less.

How much of Broken Arrow has expansive soil?

Broken Arrow covers about 63 square miles ² across the Tulsa and Wagoner county soil surveys ¹.

Which Broken Arrow soils matter most for houses?

• Dennis covers about 31% of the city. It is very deep and somewhat poorly drained, with a perched water table 12 to 30 inches down from December through April ³. See perimeter wetting heave.
• Okay is very deep, well drained and moderately permeable, formed in loamy alluvium of Pleistocene age on broad, smooth high terraces ⁴. It is one reason parts of Broken Arrow rate low on shrink-swell.
• Okemah has a silty clay subsoil with slickensides and water perched 2 to 3 feet down in winter and spring ⁵.
• Radley is a moderately well drained floodplain soil formed in stratified silty alluvium ⁶.
• Newtonia is very deep and well drained, formed in loess and residuum ⁷. Coweta and Bates reach soft sandstone at 10 to 20 and 20 to 40 inches ⁸⁹.

Where are Broken Arrow's floodplains?

FEMA's flood insurance study for the Wagoner County side of the city maps the Arkansas River, Broken Arrow Creek and its tributaries, Covington Creek and Coweta Creek, among others ¹⁰. The city mails a notice to properties in or next to the 1% chance floodplain and states that any development in the Broken Arrow regulatory floodplain requires a permit, not only new buildings; owners are asked to contact the Engineering Department before building, filling or changing structures there ¹¹. Creek-side lots tend to sit on softer, wetter alluvium; see soft soil consolidation.

Who can do foundation work in Broken Arrow?

General contractor registration in Broken Arrow requires a certificate of general liability insurance with at least $50,000 coverage, workers' compensation proof or an affidavit of exemption, and a copy of the contractor's driver's license ¹². See permits and licensing by city.

Which soils cover Broken Arrow?

ZIP codes in Broken Arrow

ZIP 74011, ZIP 74012

Looking for a foundation company near Broken Arrow?

Companies that serve Broken Arrow can appear on the company map in the Homeowner Hub. Paid listings there are marked Sponsored; the library and the AI guide don't rank or recommend any of them.

Buying or selling a house in Broken Arrow? Realtors who serve the area can be on the same map, also marked Sponsored, and for realtors covers the seller disclosure form, inspections and the sale timeline. Seeing cracks at home? Start with for homeowners.

How were these numbers measured?

We overlaid the city's current limits from the Census Bureau ² on the USDA soil survey's map units ¹ and added up the area of each soil. Where a map unit is a mix of soils, its area was split by the percentages the survey lists for its major soils, so the shares above leave out minor inclusions and do not add to 100%. A soil counts as high, moderate or low shrink-swell by the linear extensibility of its most expansive layer, the survey's measure of how much a soil changes length between wet and dry (6% or more is rated high). Water table, bedrock and flooding come from the survey's map-unit summaries: the shallowest water table in any month, the shallowest bedrock, and the most common flooding frequency. Bedrock here includes soft, weathered sandstone and shale that a pier can push through, so it is not the depth where piers stop. These are mapped averages for the whole city, not a test of any one lot. Fill, grading and the soil actually under a house can differ, which is why a site visit or soil boring still decides a repair.

Related

• Tulsa metro soils
• Soil series in the Tulsa metro
• Groundwater and perched water
• Shrink-swell and the active zone
• Compare Oklahoma cities